


Dear Daughter

by LadyDarkPhoenix (Phoenixfire)



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7728457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenixfire/pseuds/LadyDarkPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stefania Barnes has been getting notes from someone close to her in strange places.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dear Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a writing game I play with a few other people on Facebook and probably won't make sense but will add it to the larger work when we have time to organize it. Until then, here's this.
> 
> Inspired by Halestorm's Dear Daughter

It had been six months since Stefania Barnes had found her father and the random collection of people she calls family and about two weeks since the random computer typed notes started showing up out of nowhere. They started off with Dear Daughter and always offered some random piece of advice. Stef had found the first note not too long before they had managed to get her arm fixed, sitting on top of the food inside the bag she used to feed James, her dog. She had felt useless, just a burden on everyone, and started to withdraw, preferring to stay in her apartment instead of being around the others. The note read:

Dear Daughter,  
Hold your head up high! There's a world outside that's passing by.

It was sweet and she figured that Steve was trying to cheer her up, so she put it in a box and went on with her life, happier to know that someone cared.  
The next one had come shortly after she had thrown a fit over being made fun of by some other girls because of her metal arm and strange way of talking. Everyone had been at Clint and Mia’s place for pizza and movie night to hear her lament and she hadn't seen anyone leave, but in the bottom of her popcorn bowl had been a note:

Dear Daughter,  
Don't worry about those stupid girls. If they try to bring you down, it's cause they're scared and insecure.

 

Stef looked around for the culprit, but nobody was paying attention to her or even looking interested, so she gave up and added it to the box, vowing to catch whoever it was leaving them next time, because she had a feeling this wasn't going to end anytime soon.

The notes had stopped for a while as life went on. Stef had met a guy while walking James one day and thought she'd fallen in love. The only problem was he hadn't liked her independence and stubborn streak and threatened to leave her if she didn't change. She was so desperate to be loved, she had stopped being herself. Stef walked into her kitchen one day after a run to get a drink and there was a note attached to her water bottle. This was getting weird, but she grabbed it anyway and sat down at her kitchen table to see what this one said:

Dear Daughter,  
Don't change for any man. Even if he promises the world and takes you by the hand.

She sipped her water for a moment and went to grab a power bar where she found another note:  
Dear Daughter,  
Never lose yourself. Remember that you're like nobody else.

Stef appreciated the sentiments but was a little tired of all the mystery behind the notes, so she decided to confront everyone on the next movie night to see who'd fess up to it.

It was a few weeks before everyone was able to make it to movie night again. Stef patiently waited and after everyone was settled on the couch, stood up and commanded their attention.

“So, I've been finding these random notes for a while now and was wondering if anyone knew anything about them?”

Bucky, Steve, Clint, and Mia all exchanged an amused look as Bucky held out a note to her, this one hand written, “We were wondering how long it would take you to ask.” The note read:

Dear Daughter,  
I was just like you, and just like me you're gonna make it through.

Stef just looked at him as Clint and Mia gave her a note from the both of them also hand written:

Life throws you into the unknown and you feel like you're out there all alone. Stand or fall we will be right here for you.

Steve was the last one to give her his written note, and he did so with a shy smile.

These are words that every girl should have a chance to hear. There will be love, there will be pain, there will be hope, there will be fear, and through it all year after year, stand or fall, I will be right here for you.

Stef read them and could just look at the smiling people in front of her. She had started her life with cold, uncaring handlers, tutors, and coworkers, but now, while not perfect or normal by any means, she had a family that showed they cared in weird ways, but they were hers and she loved them anyway.


End file.
